Number 11 (The Winshaw Legacy, #2)

by Jonathan Coe

“What is a Conservative, anyway?” it now occurred to me to ask. “Well, I suppose a Conservative,” said Gran, “is someone who likes things the way they already are. They think that the world is essentially how it should be and we shouldn’t mess about with it too much.” After reflecting on this I said: “That sounds OK. I like things the way they are, too. Doesn’t Tony Blair?” “Mr. Blair is the leader of the Labour Party,” said Gran, “which in days gone by used to believe in a thing called socialism. Socialists think that the world could be made much more fair for everybody, but in order to do that, you have to change things and sometimes scrap things which are traditional and perhaps a bit out of date.” “But he doesn’t believe that anymore?” “Well…nobody is quite sure what he believes.”